Recovery
by AdmHawthorne
Summary: Co-written with Goooglemouth, this is our take on Jane's recovery after the shooting. Rizzles ahoy.
1. Chapter 1

**Cowritten with Googlemouth. As usual, none of the characters belong to us, but we're happy to play with them for a bit.**

* * *

><p>The first thing Jane recognized was the sound of a machine beeping followed very shortly thereafter by a dull pain in her lower right side. Her mouth felt like she'd had about two bottles of tequila the night before and chased it all down with some sand for good measure, and her whole body felt heavy.<p>

With more effort than it should have taken, she slowly opened one eye to look around the room. Clearly, she was in the hospital. Clearly, the bullet hadn't killed her. Clearly, she had to quit finding herself in this place.

She rolled her open eye. Swallowing, she concentrated on opening the other eye to look around.

She was alone in the darkened room. A chair beside her bed gave proof that someone had taken up residence beside her. A few pillows, a blanket, some magazines, and a half full bottle of water sat in and around the chair. The television was on, but the sound was off. Whoever was currently sharing her room was watching a station that did fashion programs, so that narrowed the field. It was either her mother or Maura.

With a sigh, she glanced back at the magazines to see if she could tell. But they were no help - _Cosmo, Good Housekeeping, InStyle, Vogue_. It could still be either one of them.

With some effort and hard concentration, she managed to hit the call button. The friendly male voice that answered seemed surprised by the call.

"_Ms.__ Rizzoli, you're awake! Nurse Atkins will be there in just a few to check on you. Is there something specific you need?"_

"Detective," Jane rasped out. "_Detective_ Rizzoli, and a toothbrush. Also," she cleared her throat, "I want this thing out of me. I'm pretty sure I can pee on my own, and I feel like slime. Any chance for a bath of some kind?"

"_Of__ course, Detective Rizzoli. I'll see what we can do."_

The cheerful voice just made Jane crankier than she already was. She sighed as she contemplated who was sharing her space. Her mother or Maura? With Frankie likely in the hospital too, it was probably Maura. But, her mother and her father could be splitting duties. Of course, her father had to work. But, so did Maura.

The knock on the door pulled her back from her thoughts. A large, stout woman walked in, smiling and carrying a bag. "Welcome back, Detective. I'm Carol Atkins, your nurse for the evening. The desk told me you wanted a toothbrush and a bath. We'll get 'that thing' taken care of while I'm here, too." She winked at her impatient patient. "You can't really have the bath right now, but I can help you get a little clean."

"I'll take what I can get. Did they bring me some clothes?" Jane nodded her head toward the empty chair.

"As a matter of fact, they did. They're in the drawer next to your bed. Come on, let's get you taken care of." With an air of professionalism and a fond smile dancing on her features, Nurse Atkins pulled the curtain and began tending to the detective's requests.


	2. Chapter 2

"Isles."

_"Maura, it's Angela." _The voice coming over the phone was tense, but not in the same way it had been for the last few weeks. Formerly, the habitually hoarse woman had sounded scraped, wrung, and hung dry, robbed of everything but the ability to keep trudging long past the point of reasonability. Maura had felt the same, despite trying never to sound that way. With those three words, Maura identified something new in her best friend's mother, now her own friend as well. It seemed that something had filled her up entirely again, so full that she might rupture from trying to hold it all inside.

Maura's heart leaped. _"Lei è sveglio,"_ said the doctor, cell phone held to her ear by the helpful Vince Korsak, since her own hands were covered in fluids from the intestine she was examining. _She's awake_. Using Italian would, she hoped, avoid having Jane's former partner get his hopes up if Maura was mistaken; but for once, she knew already that she wasn't wrong, even before Angela's affirmative reply. "I see," she continued in more normal tones, bending back over the body lying open before her. "Would you suggest that I come immediately, or wait?"

"_Somebody's there, huh? Is it Vince, or Frost?"_

"The first," Maura replied cautiously. The two of them had developed an ability to understand one another, at least a little, as Maura had opened her guest house to Angela, largely due to having bonded over their shared pain at the uncertainty faced by Angela's daughter, Maura's best friend. "Have you discussed...?"

Angela's nigh-explosive joy was tempered somewhat. _"We don't want to tell her about the divorce until she's feeling a little better. Frankie knows to keep his mouth shut. Are you going to be okay about that? I know about your little problem."_

Maura hesitated. Could she conceal anything from Jane, when it came down to it? Probably not, but then again, she had done so before. "I don't think there would be any reason to bring it up."

_"Good. Come after you finish up whatever you're doing. Frank, Frankie, and I are taking turns going in there. It'll be your turn whenever you get here. You don't want to talk to her right now, anyway."  
><em>  
>Maura's deft fingers paused in their scalpel work, and she tilted her head, not that Angela could see it. "Why?" Beside her, Vince switched the phone into his other hand, looking elsewhere to give her what privacy he could for whatever this call was about.<p>

_"Because she's being a __**pain in my ass**__ right now! She's bullying everybody about toothbrushes and baths and dental floss. Can you believe that? All her life, I tried to get her to floss, and it doesn't work until she gets shot!"_Angela's exasperation was tempered by laughter, which the caramel-haired medical examiner quickly found herself joining, much to Korsak's surprise.

"I'll wait," Maura replied as she reined in her laughter. But as she nodded to Korsak to hang up the phone, the laughter returned – loud, big laughter from deep within herself, rising up as a bubble from the depths of a vat of molasses, slow and sweet, pushing up tears ahead of itself as Maura's body, leaning heavily against Vince Korsak's rounded belly for support, remembered what mirth felt like.


	3. Chapter 3

The knock came just before what would have been the end of the standard work day. Frank stood to get the door, and as he opened it, what entered first was not a visitor, but a visitor's gift: a cobalt blue vase, held by a smallish hand with a chunky ring glittering from the middle finger. Inside the vase was an elegant arrangement of bright, beautiful, poisonous, purple flowers. Monkshood. Frank stepped back with a big grin but no words, waved goodbye to his daughter, and walked outside just as Maura entered, looking happy, but also nervous. "Jane."

"This better not end with me waking up because I see some dead kid looking at me," Jane said as she flipped the television off and shifted on the bed.

"It won't." Maura walked sedately while holding the glass vase, set it atop the counter on the wall at the foot of the bed, and discreetly moved a less fresh bouquet off to the side, to be cleared later. She set her purse down on the side table she'd been keeping next to the visitor chair, sat in the chair, then stood impatiently upon discovering that, with Jane sitting up, she could no longer reach her hand. Yet, she did not reach to take Jane's hand once it was within reach. Maura appeared nervous. "I wanted to come right away, but your mother said you preferred to wait until you were feeling a little more..." _Presentable_. "...alert."

"Yeah, well, I felt like I'd been dipped in an oil slick." Jane tugged at her Red Sox jersey as she gave her best annoyed look. "You wouldn't _believe_ what it took to get them to help me wash my hair and get cleaned up." She rolled her eyes. "Man, I _hate_ being in here, but the drugs are pretty good. I mean, I'm not feeling any pain." She held up a small device with a button on one end and a tube that was attached to a machine beside her, a smile gracing her features. "Morphine drip. Good stuff. I'd be out right now, but I'm trying to see what the score was while I was… well, you know." She set the trigger down beside her and reached out to grab Maura's hand. "How are you doing? Pop said you and Ma bonded, which, not going to lie, scares me just a little bit." Suddenly serious, voice gone soft, she added, "You look tired, Maura."

The standing woman did not alter her facial expression for a moment, but her fingers opened for Jane's, then clasped tightly, just short of causing discomfort for them both. "I am," she replied, and then felt able to smile, "but I don't really care." Then she sank back into the chair, scooting it towards the hospital bed and turning it to the side so she could face her friend, could look at the eyes that were, for a change, open. She had, for far too long, had an entirely realistic fear that she would never see that shade of brown again. "I've missed you."

For a long moment, Jane sat in her bed looking at the medical examiner. "Pop said I've been gone for a week." She frowned, giving the hand tangled with her own a squeeze, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you guys like that. But, Frankie… well, you know." She bit her lip, her face indicating she needed to take another minute.

"Maura, when was the last time you actually rested? You look… not like you. I mean, you look like you but," she grunted, "Damn meds, my head is full of cotton." She gave it a shake, running her free hand, across her forehead. "What's wrong? Besides the fact I'm in the hospital." With an apologetic look, she gave a small shrug.

Maura ducked her head a little in admission of guilt. "About a week, and no, I didn't feel entirely like myself. But Jane, I don't mind. I get enough sleep to keep from being impaired while working or driving. It's not entirely comfortable, but I don't mind." The repetition was not characteristic of her, but she seemed not to notice it; nor did she notice or try to correct the cotton-head metaphor. "Nothing is wrong, except this. This is enough, isn't it?"

Jane narrowed her eyes but decided to let it go. "So, you're going to help spring me, right? That Dr. Schmuck guy is really annoying, and Ma's about to get on my last nerve. If I'm at home, at least I can lock her out." She let her head fall back on her pillow. "Every time I start to snooze, she comes in and wakes me up. I mean, really? You know how much I hate taking meds," in a confidential tone, she added, "but the morphine _is_ nice." She winked. "I just would rather sleep without the medical help. Know what I mean?" Her head fell to the side, and her eyes locked with Maura's. "Hey, I'm glad you're here. Are you going to spend the night?"

"That's the plan," Maura replied, trying to scoot even nearer to the bed. One elbow had to rise to rest on it, like a redneck's arm hanging out a truck window, but at least it put her closer to Jane. "I don't know that I remember how to sleep anywhere else, though, just between us, I'm looking forward to trying again."

"Well, in that case, you go change and get ready because it is _so_ my bed time." Jane gave a squeeze of her hand.

"Okay." Without considering it or second-guessing it, Maura lifted Jane's hand to her lips for a quick kiss, near but not centered on the scar, then headed for the bathroom. She did not bring a bag, had not brought one in with her.

The doctor missed the surprised look on Jane's face. She held her hand up and looked at it where Maura had kissed it, narrowed her eyes again, and hit the call button.

"_Yes, Detective?"_ The male voice sounded tired but cheerful.

"Jeff, sorry to keep bothering you, but could you do me a favor?"

"_It depends on your need,"_ came the light-hearted reply.

"Funny. Look, could you bring a fresh blanket and pillow. I'll make it worth your while if you can do it in less than 2 minutes."

"_You have my curiosity up. I'll see what I can do_."

In less than two minutes, a tall male nurse knocked and then entered her room. "My lady," he bowed, holding the blanket and pillow out before him, "your blanket and pillow."

"It's not for me, smart ass. It's for Maura. Now, I need your help scooting over." Jane started to move on her own.

"Scooting over? Why do you need to scoot over?" Jeff dropped the items next to the fresh bouquet and quickly hurried to Jane's bedside. "What are you up to, Detective?"

"Maura isn't sleeping, and I sleep better when… just help me, will you?" She threw him her best menacing glare. "You guys have all this crap on my right side, so, if I scoot, she'll be good on the left."

"Seriously? I don't suppose it would do me any good to point out what a bad idea it is for you to share a bed with your girlfriend right now, will it?" He reached down to help Jane scoot as far to the right as possible and still be comfortable.

"Okay, first of all, she _is not_ my girlfriend." At the nurse's look, she added, "She's not! She's my _best friend_, and I'm worried about her. She needs to get some sleep. Second of all, no, it won't do you any good, so it's good you're helping me move."

"Not your girlfriend? Right." He rolled his eyes as he walked back to fetch the pillow and blanket. "When she comes out and tells you that she's not sleeping next to you tonight because you might accidentally tear a stitch, don't say I didn't warn you and don't cause a domestic incident. It's been a peaceful night, and I'd like to keep it that way." With a mocking laugh, he stepped out of the room before Jane could respond.

"Next time, Jeff," she mumbled under her breath as she lowered her bed, placed the pillow next to her, and arranged the blankets.

Maura emerged from the bathroom just as Nurse Jeff was leaving, clad in her version of sloppy-floppy pajamas: bright goldenrod silk, but noticeably too large for her, as if previously owned by someone both broader and taller than herself. Along with these, she had her sleek leather slippers, lined with fleece, and her hair was brushed until it shone and hung straight. The smell of cinnamon toothpaste, hand soap, and body lotion floated lightly around her, making her smell of fresh baked goods. The smaller woman approached her customary spot in the chair, but paused as Jane arranged the bright yellow blanket and white pillow. "That's not a good idea," she pointed out with a tolerant smile without, however, sitting in the chair she had secretly come to loathe.

"Too bad, you're sleeping here tonight." Jane flipped the blankets and sheets back. "You need to sleep, and so do I. Come on," she patted the bed, "You can argue with me, but you know I'm going to win because I'm just that awesome." With a determined look in her eye, the detective waited.

Maura's expression, though tired, took on a humor that had been missing for eight days. Rather than explain herself, however, she simply toed off her slippers and climbed onto the bed, opposite the injury, and lay on her side to face Jane. "These beds are really too narrow for this," she pointed out, but again did not do the logical thing of just getting back up. She simply molded her body around Jane's to give the injured woman all the comfort she could possibly obtain.

"Seems fine to me," Jane deadpanned as she wrapped her left arm around the smaller woman. "Nurse Jeff'll be back soon, so let's get some sleep while we can. They take my vitals every four hours." She snorted as she closed her eyes and settled. "Like I'm going to stop breathing or something."

"You might," came a male voice. Jeff stepped back in with a chart in his hand. "I came back to see what you wanted to eat tomorrow. We keep forgetting to get your answers." He glanced at the bed and then at the clock. "You two know it's 6:30 in the evening, right?" He winked at the detective.

In turn, Maura smiled at Jeff. She had no issues with the man; he had helped to keep her best friend alive, healthy, and – other than an understandable irritability – comfortable. "Yes, thank you, Jeff," she murmured as, now that Jane was situated the way she wanted to be, it was her turn to get settled in. As Jane and Jeff bantered, Maura made small adjustments to her placement and posture until she, too, was comfortable. Her eyes closed involuntarily for a long moment in relief at actually stretching out almost entirely flat, albeit on her side instead of her back.

"Hey, what did I tell you? You can just stop it right now, and," she held out her right hand, "give me my menu. What are my options?"

"You're not going to like them," his eyes skipped between the two women as he walked over to Jane's side of the bed to hand over the paper.

"Oh man, really? This is crap!" Jane held the paper awkwardly out in front of her. "You might as well ask me 'Cake or death'. I want the chicken." Beside her, Maura chuckled softly, reopening her eyes.

"That's not an option," Jeff calmly responded. "So, what'll it be, Detective?"

"Can I at least get coffee?" Her voice was somewhere between whiny and pleading.

"Decaf."

"You suck!" She quickly added to avoid Maura's normal chastisement, "I mean… whatever, okay fine. Here, will you circle?"

"I thought you might ask me to." The nurse took the paper, a smug look on his face.

"Coffee -_decaf_ and oatmeal. Can I figure out the rest tomorrow?"

"Yup, there'll be a menu with your breakfast for your lunch. You need anything else or are you good?" He headed back to the door.

"I'm good." She pursed her lips, waiting for whatever he was about to throw at her.

"Alright, good. Ring me if you need anything." He opened the door and stepped out, turning to add before he closed it again, "You and your _girlfriend_ have a good night."

"That man gets on my nerves," the detective mumbled.

Again, Maura restrained her laugh. For almost a full eight seconds. "I think he's sweet. He's done everything possible to make your convalescence easier for everyone, not just you. And so far, he hasn't allowed your _girlfriend_ to come in here and kick me out, so, you know, I owe him one."

"My girl… Maura, really?" Straining her neck slightly, Jane turned her head so she could look at the doctor. "He's talking about you." She rolled her eyes. "Everyone's a comedian. But, seriously, it's bedtime now, right? I'm really, _really_ tired."

Maura's giggle calmed down until she could say, "Yes, I know he means me. Frank told him that so that I could stay with you here, even though it's not visiting hours. If you could play along, or at least not contradict Jeff, that would be helpful." Her right hand rose over Jane's body, pressed down very gently on Jane's shoulder until her friend was lying flat again. "Yes, it's bedtime. Go to sleep, Jane."

"Play along?" With a grunt, Jane settled back down, left arm resettling around Maura. She closed her eyes, and, for the first time since she had come around, a smirk graced her face. "Does this mean we have to make out at some point?"

"_Sleep,"_ Maura repeated with a chuckle.

It was almost ten minutes later when, in a more serious voice, she wondered, "You did brush and floss, though, right?"

"Yes." Jane groaned, answering into the quiet of the room, "Before you got here. Why? You want to check?"

"I trust you," Maura replied easily, eyes still closed. "I just wanted to ask, before we had to potentially make out to prove a point."

"You know," came a husky reply through a stifled yawn, "sometimes I can't tell when you're joking." The yawn won.

Maura did not answer. She was already more than half asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Jane woke to the feel of someone taking her right hand. She grunted and, in her half sleep state, tried to pull away and fight. "Hoyt," she growled as her left arm tried to move. It was pinned. "_No._" The statement was definitive, though not scared. It was angry as her body shook violently to full alertness. "I'll kill you this time you bastard," she growled as her eyes opened and her body struggled to sit up so she could defend herself.

Jeff took a step back from the bed.

The first sound of Jane's voice woke Maura, though nothing Jeff had done or said could rouse so much as a grunt of acknowledgment. As Jeff's eyes widened in understandable fear, Maura simply placed one calm hand on Jane's opposite shoulder. "It's me," she murmured, quick but soothing. "It's just Maura. You're safe."

"No, he's here, Maura. Let me go, I have to protect you. _Let me go_," the protests were getting louder as Jane looked blindly about.

"Should I call in for backup?" Jeff quietly asked as he watched the scene play out.

Maura's head shook no, but her attention was on Jane. "You're in bed with me, Jane. You're having a nightmare. Nurse Jeff is here. There's no one else. I've got you, baby, I'm right here."

Jane's right hand went to rest on Maura's where it held her shoulder as she tried to calm down. "In bed? No… no, we were… I mean, he was right," her voice suddenly weak, she looked at the caramel-brunette, eyes full of confusion. "here. He was here, I felt him. He had my hand again, and," she held up her right hand and looked down to see the tubes running along the top and to the IV drip, "And… I… I'm in the hospital." At Maura's reassuring head nod, Jane pressed on. "I'm in the hospital, and that wasn't Hoyt. That was," she turned to look at Jeff, "you touching me to take my vitals. And I'm not in here because of him. I'm in here because of me." She sighed heavily as she lay back down, her right arm pulling Maura down with her. "I'm sorry, Jeff. You just... well, next time wake me up before you touch my hands, okay?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize," the nurse began but was cut off by a wave of Jane's hand.

"I should have warned you. I'm a little touchy." She held her hand up to show her scar. "Old injuries. You know?"

Maura cast an apologetic glance up towards Jeff; she, too, should have warned the man, now that Jane was only asleep, and not comatose, when her eyes were closed.

"I can understand. I'll make a note in your charts. I'm going to take your vitals now, okay?" He cautiously stepped back to the bedside.

"Yeah, okay. I'm just going to lay here and cling to Maura. That a problem?" Jane turned her head to nuzzle against her friend's neck.

"No, and, even if it was, I'd work with it," he replied as he started to go through the routine of checking everything that needed checking. "I'm going to take your pulse and blood pressure at the end of this, okay?"

"Yeah, sure," came the hoarse reply as Jane gave the smaller woman a tight squeeze. "I really thought he was here, Maura. I'm sorry."

"I know, Jane, and I'm sorry I didn't think about that. You were non-responsive for so long that it didn't occur to me." However, Maura relaxed into the hug, but because of Jane's wound, could not return it satisfactorily. After an awkward attempt to drape her arm over Jane's chest and rest her hand on her friend's shoulder, she gave up and sat upright to stretch, then glanced towards the monitoring machines and lifted her chin as she gazed at the chart Jeff was filling out, a silent indicator of interest. They discussed Jane's vital statistics for a moment in medical jargon before Maura translated, "You're improving by the hour. You'll probably need... What, another week to two weeks here, Jeff?"

Jeff nodded as he noted, "But of course, only if she has someone to take care of her at home." Maura smiled in acceptance, and he replied, "You didn't hear it from me, because technically Dr. Slucky will be the one to make that call, but I'd lay good odds that's what he'll say."

"Two weeks? Dr. Smucky better not keep me in here two weeks," came the grumble from the patient. "Are we done here?"

"Yes," Jeff gave a chuckle and a smile. "I'll see you in four hours." With a little nod, he left.

"Maura, can you lay down?" Jane's voice was shaky again, small. "I…um…"

"You what?" Maura wondered even as she acceded to the request, settling back against Jane as comfortably as ever. "Are you cold?"

"No," with a little shifting, Jane again found her comfortable spot. "I'm… I'm still… I'm tired and clingy and scared, and I can't believe I just said that." She shook her head. "Doesn't matter. It's the truth. I'm really glad you're here. If you had been anyone else, Jeff would have wound up with a black eye or something. You're one of the few who can calm me down. Ma can do it, but it's better when it's you, I think." She went quiet, mind working over the scene that had just played out. "Maura, did you call me 'baby'?"

The caramel blond head bobbed in confirmation of Jane's vague memory. "Yes, I did." Maura explained with patient ease, "Your parents are taking turns with you during the day while I'm at work, and Frankie at night. That's why your father told the staff I was dating you. I thought it might help them believe it if they had some anecdotal evidence, because I haven't actually been able to answer very many of their questions with a positive response. I think Jeff's starting to get a little tired of me saying things like _'What do you think?' _and _'Wouldn't you like to know?'_ Speaking of anecdotal evidence, thank you for not reacting to the kiss, either."

Jane blinked. "What kiss?"

"Right before I went to change," Maura replied helpfully as she snuggled deeper into the hospital bed, pulling the blanket up over her shoulder and her friend's as well. "I kissed your hand."

"You took me by surprise," Jane shifted so that she could comfortably rest her cheek against the top of Maura's head. "You know I don't react when I'm surprised like that. Anyway, I didn't realize that kissing my hand was just for show." Jane glanced around her private, and empty save the two women, room. She gave a little grunt as she added, her voice soft but with just the slightest hint of disappointment. "Good to know."

Maura's breathing pattern altered subtly, and a silence stretched between them as she considered. When it seemed she would not speak, she did. "I indicated that it was for show, but I didn't say it was _only_ for show. I may not do everything that I feel like doing, but I certainly don't do anything I _don't_ feel like doing."

"Yeah?" A sigh escaped Jane's lips. Somewhere between relief and frustration, she sighed again. "Okay." The silence stretched before as Jane considered what she knew and decided, for the time being, to let things go. "Hey, Maur, when I get out of here, will you stay with me like this?"

"Like," Maura paused, hazel eyes flicking down towards where their two bodies curved into one another, "this?"

With an overly nonchalant shrug, the detective gave a noncommittal grunt. "_I'm_ comfortable. Aren't you?"

Against Jane's shoulder, the smaller woman's cheek rounded with her smile. "I don't do anything I don't feel like doing," she repeated softly, shifting just slightly. One knee bent and slipped over to rest atop Jane's thighs. "Is this okay? Am I hurting you?"

"Nah, you're good." Jane's left arm shifted, her hand wrapping lightly over Maura's side. "Good night, Maur."

"Good night, Jane."


	5. Chapter 5

Maura awakened as the door opened with a soft click, lifting her head from Jane's shoulder and putting a finger to her lips, shushing the morning nurse who had come to take the patient's vital statistics once more. The smaller woman mouthed, _"Let me,"_as she shifted to make certain Jane had both arms and hands free. Only then did she take one of them, ever so gently, in hers. "Jane, sweetie," she whispered softly near the lanky woman's ear, "wake up. Nurse Watson needs to give you your morning checkup."

Nurse Watson hummed "Mm_hm_" in tones of disapproval, noting, "That's not the safest way for my patient to spend the night."

"It's a good thing the night's over, then, isn't it?" asked Maura pointedly as she lowered the arm of the bed and sat upright, legs dangling off the edge. Again she lowered her voice to soft murmurs, coaxing Jane back to the land of the waking.

A groan escaped as Jane tried to roll over to find Maura and the pain in her side made the world explode. "God, this hurts," gasping, she grabbed her side with her right hand as her left reaching out toward the doctor. "Maura?" Her voice was still raspy with sleep, but the panic was clear in it, "Are you leaving me?"

Hurriedly, Maura lay back down to take that seeking hand in both of hers, worry twisting her features. "Jane! Jane, stop moving. Lie still, baby, please! I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you were awake and fully cognizant. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." As her voice sunk from quick panic to quieter fretting, her hands fluttered to touch Jane's hand, her face, her shoulder, anywhere that Jane seemed to need her reassurance.

"Lie still?" One brown eye opened fully while the other one remained half closed. "Maura? Maura… it's cool." Jane cleared her throat and held up her right hand up to fend off the fretting touches. "I'm okay. I think I was just expecting you there when I woke up. God, I'm _way_ too needy right now." With a yawn, the detective slowly sat up, rubbed her eyes, and gave a few smacks of her mouth. Her eyes ran over the room from the white board that told her who the nurse on call for the morning was going to be to the woman impatiently standing with a chart in her hands. "Let me guess, Nurse Watson?"

The woman nodded in the affirmative. "Are you ready?" She asked as she moved across the room, giving Maura a sharp look as she did so.

"Yeah, but make it quick. I have to pee." Jane turned to Maura. "I know you have to go to work. I kind of wish… well, doesn't matter. You better go get ready. Hurry up, though. When the nice lady gets done with me, I _really_ have to pee." A grunt escaped as she let the nurse take her arm to check her pulse.

Maura kept Jane's hand for a moment, then realized, "You're going to need to get up immediately when she's finished, aren't you? If you're okay now that you know I'm still here, why don't I go, and get my teeth brushed, and then you can dash right in when you need. Okay? Or do you want me to hold you while Nurse Watson," whose first name she had never told them, unlike Nurse Jeff, "takes care of the necessary procedures?"

"Okay, you can stop with the petting now," Jane's voice held an edge of annoyance, despite having just pleaded with Maura to stay with her. "Go brush your teeth so I can go pee."

The caramel-bedhead and its owner swiftly moved off to the bathroom to perform the bare minimum of morning grooming, so that she would be out of the way by the time Jane was released from Nurse Watson. Maura liked the woman's professional expertise. She was, however, the sort of brusque woman who was not generally permitted to spend many shifts in the children's ward, maternity, or with terminal patients or their families, unless they showed the sort of spunk that would benefit from a distinct, hearty lack of coddling.

Maura had specifically requested her as Jane's daytime caregiver.

"She's getting on my nerves with this babying thing. I mean, really?" With an obliging grunt, Jane shifted to give the nurse better access to her side.

"You did almost die, detective. You should think about giving your girlfriend some consideration." The nurse pulled the jersey up to check the wound's dressing.

"She's not… I mean," another grunt escaped as Jane stopped herself from correcting the nurse. "I hate being fussed over like this. It's annoying. I just want to go home, and Maura's in super over protective mode. It's… annoying." At the nurse's cocked eye brow, she added, "Okay, so I would probably be the same way. But, still, _I'm_ the one who supposed to protect _her_, not the other way around. It feels… wrong. Plus, all the petting makes me feel uncomfortable. Man," Jane turned to glance back at her monitors and IV drip, "did you drug me before I woke up or something? I never talk this much first thing in the morning."

After drawing blood and labeling the tube, Nurse Watson arched an eyebrow, stuck out a hip, and planted her free fist on it. "Uhh-_huh_," she drew out with as much doubt as ever a human being put into any two syllables without referencing bovines or their end product.

"What, _exactly, _is thatsupposed to mean?" Jane gave the nurse a dirty look.

"Yeah," the nurse replied, this time allowing amusement to trickle in beneath the doubt, holding it up from below, "I can just see how much _you wish _that woman would just let you alone. You just _hate_ the way she's all over you, right?" Gradually, she had gone from that disapproving eyebrow lift to a tiny smirk, and now it was a full-on. "Why don't I just take that extra pillow back, so she won't be able to crowd up on you all night tonight? Save you from all that worrying and protecting and loving. Yeah, I'd hate to have somebody like that all up in _my_ business, I tell you what."

"That's not what it looks like," dark brown eyes narrowed a bit. "Maura hasn't been sleeping well, and… there's nothing I'm going to say that's going to keep you from looking at me like that, is there?" At the slight head shake in the negative from the other woman, Jane rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever."

The bathroom door opened just as Nurse Watson was saying, "Mmhm," still enjoying her first experience with this patient as an aware, responsive human being instead of a comatose one. She was glad Dr. Isles had requested her as Jane Rizzoli's attending nurse. This patient was a hoot. "I'm just saying, that woman is good to you. My first husband didn't even act that way after I had his baby, Lord rest his soul. Oh hey, Dr. Isles. You want to take a look at my notes before I take them down to Dr. Slucky?"

Maura took the notes with a smile and carried them over to stand by Jane and show the chart to the actual patient. "Oh, this is very encouraging," she murmured, making it somehow sound like a compliment to both Jane and the nurse, and perhaps it actually was. She was an appreciative person, after all, and tended to know just how much good medical care contributed to patient recovery, as well as the fact that the patient had been in excellent health before her injury. Briefly, she broke down the medical terminology, pointing out various things on the chart and explaining them for Jane's benefit. "...all of which means that you're progressing at a fairly steady rate, and that it's better than they expected." The hand not holding the chart rested lightly on Jane's shoulder, and gave it a squeeze before she stepped back from the bedside again. "Does this mean you're finished with morning checks? Is Jane free to get up and use the toilet?"

Nurse Watson nodded and took down the bedside railing. "Yes, Doctor. Would you rather help her in there, or I could?"

Maura hesitated.

"Don't care. Need to go." Jane started to sit up. "Now."

Both women helped Jane from the bed, and into the bathroom. Maura was the first to leave the room, granting Jane privacy. There were some indignities that were easier to bear in the company of a stranger than a friend.

"Don't try to stand up without help," cautioned Nurse Watson, but, rather than leave, she stayed with her back turned towards the patient. "I'm only here to make sure you don't try it anyway. Don't mind me." Minutes later, the nurse assisted Jane again, then left.

As Jane washed her hands and brushed her teeth, she glanced around the tiny bathroom, noting the scant evidence of occupancy. Generic hospital soap and toiletries had been replaced and heavily supplemented by the kinds that Maura kept in her bathroom. The little shelf below the mirror was lined with various travel sized bottles and pot-jars labeled with Sharpie. All of it was in Maura's precise, feminine manuscript.

Jane looked at her toothpaste-whitened mouth and growled softly in her morning Mad Dog impression, but her mind was busy taking her observations and forming a working theory. Everyone else apparently came during the daytime, in between work or other duties, and didn't need anything for their comfort. Maura was the one who had needed to brush her teeth here, wash her hair here, lotion her skin here. Here, not at home. Everyone else was a visitor. Maura had been _living_ with Jane while she was comatose.

As Jane finished washing up, she gave the small room a final glance before grabbing hold of her IV stand and shuffling back into the main room. "Hey, Maura," she mumbled as she slowly scooted toward the bed, "how did you get stuck being the one to babysit me at night? I mean, you're not really the 'camping out' kind of girl. This has to be really uncomfortable for you, right?" Her grip on the stand was starting to turn her knuckles white as she came to a stop beside the bed and looked down at it as if the bed was the enemy.

"Only physically," Maura said easily, then reconsidered as she stepped up to provide assistance, along with Nurse Watson on the other side. "And I go to yoga and stretch a lot in the mornings, and it's not so bad. Here, arms on shoulders." She and the nurse bent, as if they had rehearsed the maneuver, to lift Jane bodily onto the bed so that the injured woman would not have to exert herself in any way. Maura had done well with the rehearsals on the practice dummy over the past week, and it showed. "Besides, I want to be here. Remember? I don't do anything I don't feel like doing."

"I just don't understand why," Jane returned, that hint of annoyance back in her voice, "you'd want to. That's all I'm saying. I mean, it'd be one thing if we were," she suddenly looked up at the nurse. "You know, forget it."

Nurse Watson, to her credit, only smirked a little bit as she continued the morning checks and went to change Jane's bandage. When she reached for Jane's jersey and indicated what would be happening, Maura stood up. "While you ponder that," she said with a smile, "I'm going to get dressed. I'd like to be wearing a little more when your father and brother get here." She gave Jane's upper arm a little pat and headed for the bathroom, stopping on the way to pick up the gym bag that had been resting over in a corner.

As the nurse began removing the bandages, Jane looked away, staring at the wall in front of her. "This is going to hurt… a lot, isn't it?"

Nurse Watson thought it over. "Probably a little," she admitted, "but you've got some pretty good pain meds in you. That's why I gave you those first and then did all my other business. It should be kicking in right now. Just hold still for me and I'll do my best for you, 'kay?" As brusque as she could be, this was one nurse who would never knowingly cause a patient more pain than was utterly necessary. She was both gentle and efficient, and had removed the entire bandage with barely any discomfort to Jane at all. "Don't look at it," she suggested, gloving up and reaching for the antiseptic solution.

It was an unnecessary warning. Jane's eyes had remained on the wall in front of her and didn't appear to be moving any time soon.

Once she had doctored the wound, she stood back to remove her gloves and switch to a fresh pair before redressing the wound. "I'm going to take my time with this," she informed Jane. "Your lady in there likes to see how it's getting along."

"Of course she would," the detective muttered, her face set in what normally would be considered her 'detective face'. She blinked slowly, jaw muscles twitching, as she kept her gaze straight ahead.

Momentarily, Maura emerged from the bathroom, dressed for yoga class, hair in a simple ponytail. Apparently a more formal outfit would have to wait until after she'd had her morning fix of exercise. "Oh," she emitted in surprise as she realized that Jane's wound was on display, shirt hiked up to just beneath her chest, and scurried back over to have a good look. "No signs of infection," she noted, bending lower but not raising a hand to examine through touch. "No dryness; good, the adhesive on this new tape isn't irritating the skin. Thank you, Nurse Watson. Go ahead and cover it." Only when she had performed what she considered a medical duty, viewing Jane as a body... _patient_... did she stand upright again and smile towards her friend's face. "You look good. For someone who's been shot, you're remarkably healthy."

"Great." Jane's jaw continued to twitch as her eyes darted from the wall to the doctor and then back again.

Nurse Watson made efficient work of bandaging Jane's injured ribs, then departed with a knowing smile. Maura glanced at the chair, then the bed, then the chair again. There was room. Just. She sat down on the bed, right where she had slept the night before. Silence gathered around them as she slipped one hand into Jane's and settled to await the arrival of Frank and Frankie. "You're agitated," she noted quietly as she evaluated the tensed jaw, the twitchy eyes, and the general air of unease. "What's wrong? What do you need?"

"I don't want to see it," with a small motion of her hand, Jane gestured to her wound. "Okay? And you looking me over like I'm some kind of science experiment all the time doesn't help. I'm not your patient, Maura. I'm your... whatever I am, and it's just," she shrugged, "I don't need another doctor. I need a ... I don't know. A friend? A partner to help me through this? A cold beer?" She rolled her eyes. "Damned if I know _what_ I need right now, but another doctor _is not_ it."

Maura's head bowed, which would have hidden her face admirably had Jane been standing or even sitting upright, but did nothing since Jane was below her and had an unobstructed view. Her lips tightened for a moment before she replied in steady, controlled tones. "I'm sorry. I should have realized how that would look to you."

"I know you can't help yourself, but could you at least try? I need someone who isn't part of my family or my medical staff right now. They're both driving me nuts. _You_ don't drive me nuts or bother me," the detective chuckled despite herself. "Okay, well, you do, but only in the way I like to be bothered." The chuckled turned into a smirk as she went on. "Anyway, my point is that I know it's there. I feel it. It hurts like hell, and I want to not have to think about it all the time. Everyone else makes me think about it all the time. Couldn't you be the one that lets me _not_ have to?" Smirk still on her face, she added in a lightly teasing yet pleading voice, "Please?"

The nod was accompanied by a tiny sniff, but no other evidence of impending tears. Maura marshaled her reserves and squared her shoulders, though her head was still bent a little forward. "I'll try to be that way," she promised, curling her hand into a little ball within Jane's rather than lacing their fingers together as they so often did. Her voice remained unwavering, but went quiet with the intensity of the effort that required of her. "It's so much easier to be a doctor, when I can actually _see_ what happened to you, and there's someone here to watch me seeing it. But I'll try for you, Jane, I promise."

"Thank you," Jane gave the hand hers a squeeze. "Do we hug now?" She waggled her eyebrows, "Or is this where we get to make out?"

Hazel eyes widened in a flash, focusing with cyborg-like quickness "Was that a joke?" Maura asked after a beat.

"Maybe," Jane shot back, classic Rizzoli grin on her face. "Depends on whether or not I get one or the other if it's not." She winked playfully even as she rubbed at her side with her free hand.

Maura neither moved, nor spoke, nor shifted the focus of her suddenly piercing gaze. Not when Jane spoke, not when she winked, not when the door opened and two male voices called out greetings of "There she is! That's my girl." "Hey, Sis! You're back among us!" She did not stand or react in any way until Frank had bent to kiss his daughter on the forehead, shielding her view briefly and allowing Maura to rise from the bed and away, tidying the chair on which she usually slept, folding the extra blanket atop the pillow which she placed on that seat, bustling.

Frank started to initiate a hug, but restrained himself in light of Jane's injuries, not wanting to exacerbate them. He had hated seeing his brash, powerful, spunky little girl reduced to a body with wires and tubes crawling into her veins and down her throat, but he had been there for a few hours every evening, once Angela's day shift with her was over and before Maura's nighttime vigil began. He was a little choked up, but spoke of inconsequential things, other than the constant refrain of _how are you_and the hungry look of a man who had faced the mortality, not of his parents or himself, but of his progeny, his immortality, his shout to the future. His babies.

Boisterousness subdued by his own healing injury, Frankie greeted Jane the same way from the other side of her bed, relief etched into his handsome features at the sight of his sister, whom he was seeing again for the first time since the day of the shooting. This was worth getting out of his convalescent bed for.

Both men were so focused on their first sight of a conscious Jane that neither noticed when Maura quietly melted away, fleeing for a yoga class that she knew would relax her body but not her mind, a job that had forced her, every day, to look at what could have happened if her best friend had shot herself just half an inch in any other direction.


	6. Chapter 6

Jane was reading the first Harry Potter book when Maura walked in that evening. Frank Rizzoli was quietly looking through a sports magazine, and the room was full of the aromatic scent of coffee. It seemed as though Jane hadn't noticed the entrance of the doctor until she said, seemingly from nowhere, "You know, I like this Hermione girl. She reminds me a lot of you." Piercing brown eyes looked up from the pages of the book. "You're not some sort of witch, are you?"

"Hey, Maura," Frank grunted, standing to get ready to leave. "She's all yours. That book's kept her entertained for about an hour now. I'd say you have at least 30 minutes more of peace." He leaned over to give his daughter a kiss goodbye.

"Hey! I'm sitting right here. I can hear you talking about me." Jane kissed his cheek. "Also, could you…"

"Rest of the series is in the bottom drawer. Love you and be good." Frank gave Maura a warm pat on the arm as he left.

Maura's hand clasped Frank's briefly and bade him a quiet goodbye, adding, "Please give Frankie my best." Only after he had left did the woman's eyes come to rest on her best friend. "You look like you've gotten a little more rest."

"Meh," Jane shrugged. She scooted over on her bed as she set the book in lap. With a pat to the space she had just made, she commanded, "Sit down and tell me about your day. I need a quick fix on what's happening on the outside."

With commendably little hesitation, Maura sat down on the tall bed near Jane's hip, adjusting her posture until she was comfortable enough not to look strained. "Well. The Swizzle Stick has a new flavor of coffee that I think you'll like. They promised to keep it until you had the chance to try it, once I told them where you've been for the last few days. The... your current caseload is being handled by Frost and Korsak. Other than that, nothing exciting is happening at the precinct, nor in my life." Angela and Frank could not possibly find fault with her circumspect way of avoiding sharing their family news. She'd covered all the bases, speaking the truth as it pertained to herself and no one else. "But," she continued brightly, "it rained almost all day. I know you don't like missing sunny days, so I thought you might like to know that you didn't miss one today."

A deep chuckled echoed through the room. "I don't mind the rain when we're not having to look at a dead body. Water, it washes all the good stuff away, you know?" The detective shifted a little, pushing up with both hands to try and sit a bit further up on her bed. She let out a groan followed by a string of curses. "Damn it, I've got to stop doing that." Eyes watering, breath short, she grabbed the book in her lap and tossed it on the table by her bedside. "I hate this place. Can't you say an incantation or spell or make a potion or something and make me better already?"

Hurriedly Maura stood to assist Jane to a more comfortable position. She was surprisingly strong, for such a soft-looking person. "No," she said, barely breathing hard, "because magic isn't real. However, I can help you move around when you need it, if you ask first instead of hurting yourself by trying to do it alone."

Efficient hands straightened the blanket, gently supported Jane's back while fluffing the pillow, and then set the book right back in the injured woman's lap as before. "I can also suggest to your doctors that you'll be more comfortable at home, once you're ready to be removed from your monitoring equipment and IV painkillers." Once again, she congratulated herself on leaving out crucial information: Angela Rizzoli would have been agitating to get Jane back to her room at the family home, if she herself had been living there.

"It's not like I think about moving before I move, Maura." Jane picked the book up and, again, tossed it on the table by her bed. "Dr. Schluck said I could go home in a couple of days if everything looked good. He also said you volunteered to be my nursemaid while I was stuck at home. How," she began, her voice full of both awe and confusion, "did you manage to keep Ma from getting _that_ title and _why_ did you volunteer? You know I suck as a patient. You're going to want to kill me before it's all over." She grunted. "Also, he said you're very attractive, and I told him you were taken and he could su…"

"Yes, I volunteered," Maura interrupted hurriedly, not quite wanting to know what Dr. Slucky could suck, or what else her best friend might suggest that the surgeon could do for, or with, himself. She also noted and chose to ignore Jane's intentional mispronunciation of the surgeon's name. "Your mother and father both thought, quite reasonably I might add, that you'd benefit from being under a physician's care, even if I'm not much good at caring for the living. You know, you save one Rizzoli and they just hand the other one over, no questions asked."

"Two. You saved two Rizzoli lives. I know what you did for me, Maura." A shaking hand reached out to take the doctor's. "You're a real hero, you know that?" She gave the hand in hers a squeeze. "And if Schmuckly tries to make a pass at you, I want to know." Narrowed brown eyes glanced around the room. "I don't trust him. So what if he's one of the top surgeons in his field? He's greasy, and his bedside manner sucks."

Maura clasped Jane's hand within both of hers for a moment before letting her other hand leave, sweeping messy hair back from her friend's face. "Slucky. Dr. Byron _Slucky_. Not unlike myself, he's very good at dealing with people who are unconscious on his table," she said with a half-smile of quiet mischief. "His bedside manner could improve, but, to be honest, I don't really care about that now that I've gotten what I wanted from him."

Jane raised an eyebrow. "You been cheating on me, woman?"

The caramel-brunette laughed, raised her hand, and set it down again. "Consider yourself slapped for the very idea. What I _meant_ was that he got you through surgery successfully. Very well, in fact. How he behaves after that is entirely without consequence. I don't need to like him. I just needed him for the duration of the time it took to bring you back." Only at the end did her voice waver, and only slightly. No one who didn't know Maura as well as Jane did would have ever even noticed.

"Hey, you want to go get changed?" Jane's eyes flicked down to their clasped hands. "Jeff's on duty again tonight. He said he'd sneak us in some real food if I asked him nicely. You don't look like you've eaten." Her voice was soft as she tried to change the subject. "You still look tired. Maybe you can lie down after you change? You know, until real food arrives."

Quickly recovering her emotional balance, Maura smiled as she stood up. "Actually, I brought food. It's in the second bag I brought in. I'll get it for you as soon as I'm ready for bed, okay?" With that, she got up from the bed and took hold of her gym bag, heading into the bathroom.

Several minutes later, Dr. Maura Isles had been left behind, and in her place remained just Maura, fresh-faced, smelling of cinnamon, and swathed in navy blue silk nightgown and robe. She swept back into the room, tucked the gym back beneath her chair, and brought out the other bag. "I hope it's still warm," she said as the smell of Angela Rizzoli's homemade ravioli assaulted the olfactory senses. "It's a mushroom and five cheese filling, and I think she said the sauce was a simple marinara." She set out the plastic containers, swaddled in some sort of silvery space-age warming wrap which was indeed keeping the food at an appealing temperature, and then brought out some plastic utensils and paper napkins. "I'm sorry they wouldn't let me bring in wine, or candles, or even real utensils, but at least it will _taste_ good."

"Romantic." With a smirk, Jane took a bite. "Not bad, but it tastes like Ma's not on her game. Well, I guess I should probably expect that, huh?"

* * *

><p>The dinner was pleasant, and they managed to finish and clean up before Jane's nightly checkup. Jane was making demands as Jeff knocked and walked into the room.<p>

"Maura, come on. Just lie down for a little bit at least… please? I mean, Jeff can work around you. He did it last night."

"Couldn't hurt for you to be around, Dr. Isles. You kept me from a black eye last night. Maybe I should keep you around as my bodyguard? At least from your girlfriend anyway." He walked around the bed to check the monitors and avoid crowding the forensic pathologist.

"Funny." Jane shot back.

With a small nod, Maura resumed her seat in the chair beside the bed, holding the darker brunette's hand. Since that morning, she had not looked at Jane's chart at all except when the injured detective was in the bathroom, had only glanced at the monitors when her friend's attention was elsewhere, and had not tried to assist with the changing of bandages. Even now, as Nurse Jeff went through the evening checklist, medications, bandage change, and menu, Maura remained quietly supportive. She looked at the wound when it was uncovered, but did not verbally evaluate it. She behaved, in fact, like a friend – or, from Jeff's perspective, a girlfriend – instead of a doctor, just as Jane had requested. The only difference was that Maura did not lie in bed with Jane during the examination and bandage redressing, preferring to stay out of the way of Nurse Jeff's excellent medical care.

"Okay, he's done, will you _please_ get up here now?" Jane swatted at Jeff's hand as he helped pull her shirt down.

"She always this anxious to get you in bed, Dr. Isles?" The nurse smiled, stepping out of his patient's reach.

Hazel eyes flicked towards Jane as Maura hesitated, then played discreetly coy as her hand snuck over to tug gently at the hem of Jane's shirt, pulling it the rest of the way down over the waistband of her pajama bottoms. "She's never had to ask me twice before." With that, she lifted the covers and slip beneath them, adding, "And she never will again, once we're out of here."

"Damn straight," the detective nodded.

"No, I don't think so," Jeff shot back, laughter in his voice. "God, you two crack me up. It's nice to see a couple not let the strain of a hospital get to them. I'm going to hate seeing you go." He opened the door to leave. "Buzz me if you need something I can actually get for you. I'm still working on that beer, Detective." He gave a little wave and stepped out, closing the door behind him.

Jane shifted to allow Maura to settle against her, again using Jane's left arm as a pillow. "He's growing on me." She pulled back to look down at her friend. "You know, you're getting pretty good with this suggestive talk. 'Never will again'? Tell me the truth, Maur, have you really never said no to me when I've told you to get into bed?"

"I don't think so, no," Maura replied after some thought as she settled in further, warm and pliant against Jane, whose injuries prevented her from being truly accommodating. "Why, do you think I should play a little harder to get?"

"Please! You're impossible to get." With a roll of her eyes, Jane continued, ignoring the look she was being given. "Come on, sweetheart, we all know that you're like, I don't know, the freaking Maltese Falcon or something. Just based on what I know about you, I know I'd never land you even _if_ I was trying." She placed a little mocking in her voice as she started listing things off. "I'm not your type. You don't date people with medical issues that could be passed on. You think I'm bossy. You don't think I can relax. Neither one of us date women. You don't like how I dress. You don't appreciate the Red Sox." Jane shrugged. "It's just a fact, you're already hard to get."

"_Sweetheart_," Maura repeated back to her friend, one eyebrow raised in significance as she called out the pet name, "I'm not likely, but I'm certainly not impossible, either." As she ticked off Jane's points and laid waste to them, each one made her eyes sparkle just a little bit more, even as her smile became smaller and more serious. "No one is my type, because I don't actually _have_ a type. Your medical issues can't be passed on, at least not through me. I've come to enjoy your bossiness. Knowing you better now, I've come to understand that you actually do know how to relax when you aren't trying so hard. I don't know how you got the idea that neither of us date women, but you're incorrect; I don't date women _casually_. I like the way you dress; it just took me a while to understand the effect you were going for. And I could appreciate the Red Sox – I approve of teamwork, striving towards goals, heart, and the science and history behind baseball."

"What?" Jane's reply was both confused and ever so slightly full of fear. "What do you mean you don't… I mean… _what_?" Despite the sudden panic evident in Jane's voice, she didn't remove her arm or indicate she wanted the smaller woman to get up. Instead, she shifted to lay flat again as her eyes fixed on the ceiling. She gave herself a moment to calm down before saying, in a much less panicked voice, "This surprising me thing can't be good for my recovery." She ran her unpinned hand over her face. "Anything else you should tell me? Sounds like you've thought about this… us dating thing."

Maura leaned back a little so that she could see Jane's face more clearly. The expression thereon puzzled her, and she needed a few seconds to sort through the possibilities. "Actually," said the smaller woman after a pause that was only barely short enough to remain relatively comfortable, "I was thinking the same of you. That was quite a list you recited of reasons you wouldn't be able to date me. I merely answered your concerns, because they seemed to be... holding space within your thoughts." She waited until Jane's demeanor calmed, at least a little, before continuing on. "Besides, last night, and again this morning, you jokingly offered to make out with me. How could I not think about that? And because I thought about that, how could I not think about dating you? We're far too close for me to consider _just_ making out with you, even if I did treat women in general as casually as that."

"Fair enough," Jane answered, eyes still on the ceiling. "But, I'm not the one who ran off under the cover of the Rizzoli men to keep from answering my question this morning, either." She sighed, body tensing. "What's going on here, Maura?"

Maura's eyes lowered. "I didn't think you'd want to hear my answer with your family here," she temporized, not wanting to give the whole story all at once. Then, as so often happened when she was with Jane, the rest of it came tumbling out anyway. "But, mostly, I just didn't like thinking that it could be a joke to you, and I didn't know how to say anything that didn't make me sound pathetic."

"You're never a joke to me, Maura." The reply was fluid and without hesitation. "Though, for the record, my family is sometimes a joke to me. I either have to laugh about them or cry about them. Most of the time, I try to just laugh." Jane turned her head to look down at her friend. "But they're not here. It's just us. Tell me."

One of Maura's hands was beneath her, the elbow bent to support her in a half-reclining position. The other was... awkward. Very awkward. After a few false starts, she lay the arm back down along her side to rest on her hip, a pose that would have appeared sensual if not for the visible hesitance in her demeanor. "The reason we're not dating, or making out, or anything else under that general classification, has nothing to do with me," she said softly. "You've been fairly clear in letting me know that _you_ don't date women. I just can't stop my mind from latching onto the tiniest things that suggest otherwise, however faintly."

"Must be a pretty big list of suggestive things by now," Jane stated matter-of-factly. "I'd roll over to look at you, but it'd hurt like hell right now, so just know that I want to see you better, okay?" With a sigh, she moved as best she could to get a better look at the doctor. "I don't date women… _casually_, or, generally, with anyone's knowledge. But things can change."

"That's another one," Maura replied with wry helpfulness as she, too, shifted to allow Jane to see her more fully. "It almost sounds..." She trailed off as a vertical line appeared between her sculpted eyebrows, which then arched away from another as if startled. "Jane?"

"Yeah?"

Maura opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came. She closed it for a moment's thought, then tried again. "Did... Um..." That free hand suddenly found something to do, fluttering to press against the V of her robe as if it could possibly slow and control her thudding heartbeat. "I _might_ be," she said, or rather, whispered huskily, "experiencing the effects of stress and fatigue, combined with apparently a great deal more wishful thinking than I previously realized I was permitting myself to have. Did you..." The smaller woman took a longer, deeper breath and finally let her eyes return to the face of the friend around whom she was all but entwined. "_Were_ you joking? Please, Jane, don't tease me. I need to know."

"No, not really, but I'll tell you yes if telling you no means you'll leave."

"I'm not leaving," replied Maura, "unless you tell me to go. I'm here because I want to be here. I want to be with you."

"Yeah, I'm learning that." Jane's eyes ran over Maura's face, searching for something. "Are we going to keep talking in cryptic statements or what? I know I'd normally be all over that because, frankly, this thing we have going on is sort of… well, it's a little intimidating and you know how much I hate that. But, I'm in a lot of pain, I'm tired – mentally and physically – and I think that combination is probably making me crankier than normal. So, could we, maybe, just cut to the chase so I can buzz Jeff to bring me some of the good stuff? I don't really want to pass out before this is settled." She winced as she took in a deep breath. "So, let me just ask… Maura, are we going to keep _pretending_ to date each other, or are we going to give dating each a try? I realize the hospital isn't the best place to start out but…"

"But this is where we are," Maura finished the thought, "and as tired as we both are, as tired of pretending to date – or pretending _not_ to date – I don't feel like waiting until we can get you out of here. Press the call button. Get Jeff to do whatever you need him to do, and then send him away, because there's a good chance I'll be kissing you in a few minutes' time, and I don't particularly care for an audience at this time. I'd rather you know that it absolutely is not for show."


	7. Chapter 7

A few tense minutes passed as they waited for the nurse on call to enter the room. When he finally arrived, the look on his face gave strong indications that he felt he was interrupting something. "So, detective, you need something for the pain?"

"Yeah, but don't knock me out. I've got things to do." Jane shifted on her place in the bed and then winced.

"You know you two probably shouldn't do those things until the stitches come out. I mean, I'm all for free love and whatever, but the doctors would really be unhappy with me if I let you do something that kept you in here longer than you should be." He glanced between the two women. "If I have to, I'll leave the door open and come in here for hand checks randomly but frequently." He gave them a knowing look as both women's faces took on faintly pink traces. "In fact, I'm going to keep the door open anyway. I just have a feeling," with a frown on his face, he walked over to Jane's side of the bed and handed her a couple of pills. "This should help, but, no, it won't knock you out. You're past the morphine stage. However, you might get a little loopy." He looked to the other woman sharing Jane's bed. "Fair warning."

Arching a brow, Maura smiled at the nurse to take the sting out as she reminded him, "I'm a doctor, Jeff. I would never endanger the health or wellbeing of anyone, but especially not my... Jane. We simply need to have a conversation, and I would rather her words be influenced by medication than by unnecessary pain."

"No offense, but it doesn't matter what your profession is. When you're in here, you're her partner, not her doctor, which, frankly, is better anyway. It's my job to take care of her, medically speaking, and I do take my job very seriously," he added with a confidential tone, "even if I do give the detective here a hard time. Look, I respect you, Dr. Isles, and I know that you'll respect me and my job enough to know that, when I give out warnings, I do so because I _do_ take my responsibilities very seriously. The fact that we've all allowed you to sleep in the same bed with Jane is testament to how much we trust you, but there are lines. You understand?"

"I do."

"Why do I feel like I'm 10 and Ma and Pop are having a conversation 'about the kids' while we're in the same room? Hello? I'm _right here_." Jane gave Jeff a little push on the arm. "You two stop talking about me like I'm not in the room. I _hate_ that."

Again, Maura smiled as she reassured Jeff. "I will never knowingly endanger Jane. I've managed to keep my hands to myself for this long, and I think I can hold out a little longer. Don't you think so?" she added with a look towards the prone detective as she rested her hand on Jane's shoulder, the one closest to herself. "We'll be fine, Jeff, I promise. Wouldn't you be able to restrain yourself, if it were your girlfriend lying here instead of... instead of mine?"

"No, if Camille were stuck in a hospital bed like Jane is, I'd probably go crazy. In fact, she was just recently; she broke both of her arms in a motorcycle accident." Jeff gave a wave of his hand to dismiss whatever either woman was about to say. "So I do get it, which is why I'm giving the warning. Got it?" He looked down at the detective. "That goes double for you."

"Hey! I'm not even involved in this conversation. Don't mind me. I'll just be here playing with my hands until the grown-ups are done talking," Jane gave a little pout.

"Playing with your hands, huh?" The humor in the nurse's voice seem to break whatever tension was in the room.

With a click of her tongue and a dirty look, Jane growled, "Man, you've _got_ to be the dirtiest minded nurse I have ever met."

"I'll take that as a compliment." He winked as he rounded the bed for the door. "I'm trusting you two to be good, okay?" He closed the door with a gentle click.

* * *

><p>Maura's chuckle followed Jeff out the door, but her attention was on Jane, especially once the laughter calmed. "I'm sorry, Jane. I know you don't like it when people talk over or around you. I just... didn't want to say in front of Jeff the things I want to say to you. Besides, I knew he'd need to go back on rounds, so we had to talk efficiently. <em>You<em>, on the other hand, are something of a captive audience right now, and I knew I'd have ample opportunity to speak directly to you. Or, well, to not speak. If you're so inclined."

"I think we better talk now before these meds completely hit me. I'm already starting to feel a little goofy," Jane gave Maura a large, lopsided grin, "Besides, I like hearing you talk, especially when you get all Googlemouth on me. Wait," she blinked slowly, "Okay, yeah… that wasn't the meds talking." She cleared her throat. "So, what else is there to say before I take the makeout option?"

Maura's gaze focused primarily on Jane's lips until she had leaned close enough not to be able to see them anymore. "Nothing, I hope."


	8. Chapter 8

"Detective Rizzoli?" The male voice broke through Jane's pleasant dreams of Maura and things she'd never tell anyone about expect for, well, Maura. She scowled in her half sleep. "Detective Rizzoli, wake up."

"Beat it, Schmucky, I'm busy," Jane responded, voice heavy with sleep as she turned her face away from the sound of the surgeon's voice.

Maura moved only slightly, head on Jane's shoulder, arm draped loosely down her own side. Once, just once, in the night she had allowed it to stray across Jane's body. The resulting hiss of pain had taught her quickly that there was no safe way for her to hold Jane, so she had made do with pressing herself in towards Jane's uninjured side.

"Clearly, but you two can do that when you're at home. Right now, I need to check your progress." His voice was flat.

Slowly opening her eyes, Jane glanced down to see her right hand wrapped around Maura and all but groping the smaller woman's chest. She grunted as she glanced back to the impatiently waiting man. Her eyes narrowed. "Mine."

"So we've determined," he responded, no inflection in his voice as he flipped open her chart.

She growled as she gave Maura a gentle shake to make her. "Maur, sweetheart, you got to wake up. Sluckles is here to check on me, and you need to move."

Maura _hmphed_ in protest, but the disturbance was having its effect. She would not sleep or dream well even if all movement and conversation ceased immediately. Anyway, there was something she had to remember. Her brow furrowed as her half-asleep mind struggled towards a memory of her waking life. Something to remember. Something good.

"Slucky." He corrected absentmindedly as he flipped through her charts. "For every time I hear you call me something besides my name, I'm going to suggest one additional week of PT."

Maura stretched herself awake, blinking until her eyes could focus. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said in a sleepy-cute, smiling voice. "Let me get out of your way. Jane, be nice. It's not his fault." Whether she referred to the shooting, to the fact that morning had come, or to the fact that it was horrifically easy to give offensive and comical nicknames to a man named 'Slucky', she did not say. "I'll just go get dressed, unless you'd rather I wait?" She addressed Jane directly, knowing that there were times Jane just wanted to get the examinations over with, and other times when she seemed to want Maura to be beside her.

"Wait." Jane held Maura's gaze. "I want you to hear what Dr. Slucks here has to say."

The other doctor, the one curled against Jane, sighed. "Sweetie..."

"Three weeks of PT just went to four," Dr. Slucky replied as he reached down to pull up Jane's shirt and then stopped. "Actually, Ms. Rizzoli, I need to see how well everything is healing on both sides. This will be easier if you'll remove your shirt and sports bra." He glanced up to make certain the door was closed and then to Maura, a question in his eyes that went unspoken.

Maura's eyes narrowed slightly, focusing on the hand that had come perilously close to trespass until the surgeon backed off. She hadn't meant to look that way, but it was effective, she had to admit when she thought about it. "It's easier," she said after considering the options, "and he really does need to check both sides. Would you like some help, while Dr. Slucky turns around to give you some privacy?" Fortunately for him, the surgeon took the hint and turned his back to the two women.

"_Detective _Rizzoli," Jane corrected before answering Maura. "_No_, but I probably need it," she groaned as she slowly sat up. While Maura was helped her, she whispered under her breath with a chuckle, "Territorial, Dr. Isles?"

"Maybe a little," whispered the smaller woman with unexpected bashfulness as she stood, then bent to give assistance. Though there was some discomfort associated with clothing removal, particularly the sports bra, Maura was gentle and moved slowly, so as not to jostle sore muscles or tear delicate skin. Too, her eyes were gentle, neither landing on the wound itself, nor on Jane's torso at all, granting what privacy was possible, given the nature of the task. When both garments were off, she held up the shirt again over Jane's chest. "Just move aside enough for Dr. Slucky to do what needs doing," she said in more normal tones, both for Jane's sake and as a tacit warning for the surgeon. "You don't have to be completely bare for this examination."

"True," Slucky turned back around, "This won't take long."

With a skilled hand and a practiced eye, the surgeon examined Jane. After long minutes and several questions, made a few notations on her chart, and flipped it shut. "I'll discharge you as soon as we remove the stitches, which should be in a few more days. You're healing nicely, but, given what I know of your history, I think it safer to keep you here until there's no risk of you accidentally popping a stitch. Besides," he glanced over to the other doctor, "I would feel better keeping an eye on your progress for a few more days yet. With this type of wound, I'd rather be safe than worry about infection later."

Having paid attention to the wound in a surreptitious manner as the man performed his examination, Maura nodded at the wisdom of waiting. "It's safest," she said to Jane, still speaking to her and not, at least directly, to the doctor. It was quite a contrast, especially when held up beside her behavior with Nurses Jeff and Watson. "Even after you get home, I'll keep a watchful eye on it for that very reason. We'll just stay out the end of the week," she told Jane, then glanced towards Dr. Slucky purely for confirmation.

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you taking up residence? Doesn't the coroner's office need you for something? You're the head pathologist, correct?"

"Chief medical examiner," Maura confirmed the position but corrected the title, this time addressing Jane's surgeon himself. "Yes, I'll be going to work during the day, just as I've been doing for the last nine days. But until Jane tells me otherwise, I will be sleeping with her." The wording was not accidental. There was no arch of the eyebrow this time, but the tone was – barely – pointed enough to mark finality to the polite refusals she had been handing Dr. Slucky for the duration of Jane's hospital stay.

He shrugged. "Pathologist, medical examiner. Potayto, potahto, as they say." He ran his eyes over the smaller woman, who had just begun to remind her fellow physician that there were multiple types of pathologists, and the more exact term…

"Hey, buddy, that's enough of that crap. Listen, Dr. Schmuck, you might be my surgeon, but you're not out of bounds for getting my foot up your…"

"_Jane_," Maura said sternly, placing a calming hand on Jane's forearm. "Pardon us, Dr. Schmuck_._It's been a stressful nine days."

"Slucky, Doctor Slu… you know, never mind." Giving one last glance to the medical examiner, he left the room.

"Potayto, potahto," Maura replied dismissively.


	9. Chapter 9

The rest of Jane's hospital stay was routine. Her family would come by during the day, and Maura would be there at night. Discharge from the hospital was relatively painless, and it came as no surprise when Maura insisted Jane stay with her at her home as opposed to both of them going to Jane's apartment.

Though the detective fought about it, the truth was Jane didn't care so long as she could rest and spend time performing her new favorite activity – kissing her girlfriend. The only annoyance seemed to be the fact that her mother was around a lot more than she thought Angela ought to be. It almost seemed as though Angela was living there, not visiting, which annoyed the detective since Angela's presence seriously cut into her favorite activity time.

After a week of staying in Maura's home and four days of physical therapy, Jane was tired. She was too tired to bother with going to either bedroom after coming home and showering from her last bought of physical therapy. Instead, she claimed the sofa and quickly drifted to sleep.

The sound of the door opening and Jo happily yelping a hello work her to tell her Maura was home from work, and the click her high heel was a comforting sound to Jane's still tired mind. Though she couldn't see Maura from where she lay, she knew dinner had arrived as well. The smell of Chinese filled the air. "You're supposed to say, 'Honey, I'm home' when you come in from work," Jane called out, the smile on her face reflected in the intonation of her voice.

"Why would she do that?" Angela's voice brought Jane's happy moment to a grinding halt.

"Ma?" Jane sat up quickly, winced, cursed, and then stood, facing both her mother and her best friend, recently turned girlfriend. "Ma, what the crap? Why are you here… again?"

It occurred to Maura, long past the time when it should have done so, that she had two pieces of information, one from each of the Rizzoli women, that they both deserved to have. Hazel eyes flicked from one to the other during a silence which she expected one of them to break, not herself. However, both of them were now focused on her, their questions hanging in the air like some cheap incense that didn't smell nearly as nice as the expensive kind that it was meant to resemble. The caramel-haired woman took a breath and suggested, "Why don't I feed Bass. Jane, do you want to eat on the couch or at the dining table? Angela, if you would be so kind as to set out dinner, and then we can all have a nice chat."

"Table." Jane's glare stayed on her mother just a moment longer before she slowly headed in that direction.

"Yeah, no problem, Maura. I'll grab us some drinks, too." With an uncertain look between her daughter and the doctor, she turned to the kitchen.

Maura quickly removed the tortoise's dinner salad, which she had prepared that morning, from the refrigerator to set down for him, then moved quickly to help Jane to the table. Under cover of that assistance, she murmured quietly, "I suggest, if you don't feel like being sidetracked or coming out to your mother while you're unable to run away, asking your questions before she can get to hers."

"Why is she here, Maura? Again?" Jane hissed under her breath as they shuffled to the table. "And, fu… forget about it. We're telling her. I'm not doing this dance around the topic thing. I've got too many other things to think about right now other than trying to keep my nosy mother out of my personal life. If she knows, at least that's one less thing I have to worry about while I'm trying to get better so we can… worry about other, more important stuff." She looked over to the smaller woman and waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Behave," Maura replied, but according to the look in her eyes and the tone in her voice, she did not mean it in the slightest. What she meant was a little closer to the little nuzzle she permitted herself once she'd gotten Jane seated in what had become her favorite spot. Her breath warmed the lanky woman's cheek and ear for a moment under the pretext of explaining, "All right, we can tell her. But I think it would be best to let your mother talk first. She's wanted to discuss something with you, and it's a good opportunity."

Serving spoons clicked in the kitchen as Angela scooped Chinese food into serving dishes and started bringing them into the dining room. She barely looked at her daughter and their mutual friend, ascribing their physical closeness to Jane's need for a supportive arm when sitting, standing, or changing positions. "Who wants forks and who wants chopsticks?" she asked, making free as if she was part-owner of the kitchen and its utensils.

"Chopsticks, Ma."

"Chopsticks, please," Maura replied, "and I'll help you with the plates. Be right back, Jane."

Soon the table was set with plates, two sets of chopsticks and a fork, napkins, and glasses of each woman's drink preference, which was to say, various beers. Maura's was Chinese; it had seemed appropriate at the time. Jane's stayed in her bottle, glass pushed to the side.

Jane took a couple of bites of noodles before she broke the silence of the table. "Ma, why are you here?" Though the question was direct, it wasn't as full of heat and anger as it had been before. This time, it was gentle and slightly tired.

For once, when Jane's mother opened her mouth, she didn't have anything to say. Even odder, she cast her eye towards Maura to ask for help. Maura paused to chew and swallow her kung pao tofu, giving herself time to think. "Angela has been staying in my guest house for... a little while," Maura began, then gave the woman a nod. It was all the push Angela needed.

"Your _father_," she said, summoning up years worth of dramatic pauses and storytelling, "wants a divorce." And then that was it. No story, after all. Nothing. Just a conversational brick, tossed to shatter and splash, then sinking heavily.

Jane's jaw dropped. "He wants a divorce? God, Ma, I am so sorry." She stood and quickly went to her mother, placing a hand on her shoulder as she squatted down to eyelevel, ignoring the pain that shot through her side. "Whatever you need, we're here for you, okay? If you want to stay at my place for a little while, you have the key. God… a divorce?" She glanced up to Maura who simply nodded. "Does Frankie know?"

"He knows, Janie," Angela replied, more subdued than she had been in recent memory. "We didn't want to tell him until he was feeling better, but he noticed your father and I were never at the house at the same time and I'm gone overnight." She leaned towards Jane, but at the last second remembered that the wound would make that painful for her, and instead leaned towards Maura, only giving her daughter a tight hand clasp. "Are _you_ okay about this? I didn't want to upset you." Beside her, Maura put an arm around Angela's shoulder, looking a little awkward to be initiating the contact. "And I'm sorry I wouldn't let Maura tell you. Don't blame her for that."

"I don't. I understand, Ma. I do. I just… wow. I don't know what to say. I… you know we're here for you." She stood up, catching herself by grabbing onto her mother's shoulder for support. "It'll be okay. Frankie and I were sort of worried this might happen. Pop's been distant for a while, but we thought it might be _you_ divorcing _him_, not the other way around. I just… I'm so sorry, Ma." Jane glanced to Maura, expression a mixture of various emotions. "If you need to talk," she gently told her mother, "I'm here for you, you know?"

Maura had the decency to look guilty for having kept the news a secret, but then another expression stole briefly across her face: _this_was why she had suggested letting Angela talk first. Her news actually was bigger. "We both are," she echoed, not that it mattered. She was 'practically family,' but still not actual family.

Angela sniffed once, let herself take a few seconds to look as though she might cry, red face and all, and then in between one breath and the next, there was nothing. It was gone. "Thanks. Both of you, thanks," though she looked mostly at Jane, until the moment got a little too much for her, and she pulled out a swift misdirection. This was where her daughter had learned the tactic, after all. "Hey. The food's getting cold. Sit down, Janie, or you'll blow a fuse."

For a miracle, Maura did not correct Angela's terminology. Incorrect though it was, it had gotten the point across admirably.

"Suture, Ma, and they're all gone, remember?" Jane sighed heavily as she slowly sat back down in her chair. "I feel like a heel for saying this right now, but I'm pretty sure there's not really going to be a better time." She took a long sip of her beer. "You know about me and Maura, right?"

Angela took a bite of her sweet-and-sour pork, and while her head was down, Maura looked up at Jane, eyes wide, and mouthed _Now?_ Even before Angela finished her bite, though, she was nodding and replying, "Sure. It was my idea. They wouldn't let her stay with you overnight unless she was family, so your father and I told the staff you were practically engaged. See, pretty fast thinking, huh?" She glanced at Maura, looking pleased with herself and with the distraction from her own woes, but her smile faltered at whatever she saw in the forensic pathologist's face, and she sought Jane's eyes again to explain it to her. "What?"

Jane shrugged both at her mother and her girlfriend. "It was a lie, but it's not a lie anymore."

Angela's head swiveled back and forth. Her jaw dropped, brows lifted. It was amazing to watch, from Maura's perspective. Jane's looks had come almost entirely from her father, but apparently most of her facial expressions were Angela's. She found it fascinating to see, and entertained passing thoughts of studies she'd like to do, in-depth experiments comparing and contrasting facial expressions across generations, perhaps finding separated twins and learning whether their expressions were genetically ingrained within their facial muscles and tendons, or whether they were learned from parental influence... "Oh," she said, caught up short as her distraction was, itself, distracted by said parent, snapping her fingers in front of her face.

"I said, is that true?" Angela demanded for the second time, or was it the third? Maura merely nodded. Angela took another moment to gear up to outrage. However, a moment later, it dissipated. "I guess if a person's going to get divorced, she's got no right to yell about what the church teaches," she grumbled, then admitted, "and anyway, as long as you're happy, I don't give a flying..."

"Thank. You. Ma." Jane interrupted. "So, when you walk in on us when we're on the couch, and you _will_, just don't flip out, okay?" Jane took another sip of her beer. "Besides, I figured you'd be okay with this. I mean, Maura's a doctor, right?" She smirked behind her bottle, eyes sparkling with classic mischief. "You've always said I should date a doctor."

Maura gave Angela's hand another squeeze; notably, neither had felt the need to drop the contact. Apparently they had bonded while her two children were battling for their lives. Helpfully, Maura added, "Yes, and you did mention that you felt a cop would be a good choice for me."

"I meant Frankie," Angela said with a wry chuckle, followed by a long sigh.

The surprise on Maura's face could not have been counterfeited. "Oh, no, Frankie's far too young for me."

"I know, honey, but a mother can dream." Another sigh, this one a bit more contented. "At least I can stop worrying about Janie's love life and deal with Frankie's and Tommy's. They're a _mess_."

"Score!" Jane threw an arm into the air, fist balled up. "Ow, damn it!" The hand quickly fell back down. "Oh man," she rubbed at her side.

Maura winced immediately as if it was her own wound she had just reignited. "Jane!" she cautioned, not that it was necessary, as pain was a good teacher. "Oh, honey. Did you tear it? How much does it hurt? Do you want to come to the bathroom and let me take a look at it?" It was really quite impressive how fast she could get up, _fold her napkin_, and circle around the table to get to Jane's side.

Angela watched them with a shade of disbelief in her smile, but a smile nonetheless. As she resumed eating her dinner, she noted for her own benefit, "This is working for me."

"Maura, will you," Jane batted at Maura's hands, "leave it alone? Maur," she tried to pull away, "come on! Stop it. I'm fine." She grabbed both of the doctor's hands in her own, her eyes holding Maura's. "I'm fine, sweetheart. Okay? I'm just sore, that's all." Her voice was evening out to the calm she got when she spoke to hysterical people while she was on the job. "I'm just sore. But, if it'll make you feel better, you can look at it here if you want. Ma's seen me at my worst, so I'm not really worried about it."

No one could look disappointed like Maura Isles. "At the table, Jane?" One could hear the _really?_ hovering overhead, even though she did not speak it aloud.

Jane's eyes swung to her mother. "Ma," the accusation was clear in her voice, "I heard that."

"What? You don't want me to approve?" Angela demanded, grinning nonetheless. "I could scream a little about you being sick, or sinful, or gross. Would that help? I know more than half of the guys you've dated, especially in high school, were just to make me mad. At least I hope that's what you had in mind when you dated Snake Peterson, because I don't want to believe that you actually liked him."

"There was a reason they called him 'snake'," her daughter countered with a wink. "Maura, I'm sore, and walking hurts. If you really _have_ to check me out, then do it here because I'm not moving around unless I have to. I want to _heal_, remember?"

Maura conceded the point without speaking, just a little sideways head lean, then didn't even hesitate for a moment, simply lifting the shirt Jane had worn and tugging the free chair over to give herself a seat. As she peeled back the dressing, the bouncy-haired woman wondered, "Why did they call him Snake? Did he keep snakes as pets? You know, I considered that, when I was looking into potential pets, before I started looking into tortoises."

"No, Maura," Jane grumbled as she watched her mother quietly eating… and smirking …while she allowed herself to be pushed and pulled around by her girlfriend. "They called him Snake because he called _himself_ Snake. The nickname was appropriate, and that's all you're getting out of me." A few grunts escaped. "See? I'm fine. Can we eat now? I want to spend some time with you," she glared at her mother, "_alone_ before you have to go to bed tonight."

"Before _I_ go to bed?" Maura repeated, much to Angela's amusement as she saw the comment coming from a mile away. "Aren't you coming with me?"

"I… uh… well, I mean… well, that is to say… uh… what I _meant_ was," Jane sighed heavily and glanced at Angela, shrugged, and then turned back to Maura. "Yeah, that's what I meant. You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?"

Angela let out a laugh that was beautiful in its purity of purpose, which was of course enjoying the embarrassment of her daughter. "Boy, you really _don't_lie," she marveled in Maura's direction as the doctor sat down, becoming just a girlfriend again, to finish her dinner. "This is great. So, how long has this been going on?"

"Since the eighth day Jane was in the hospital," Maura replied complacently over her broccoli cashew shrimp, "but of course I'd wanted it for much longer."

Getting an answer delighted Angela, and so she tried it again. "How much longer?"

Maura glanced at Jane and, not knowing quite how to read the expression on the angular, beautiful face, simply offered the truth again. "A few months, if you mean how long did I hope for a relationship."

Again, Angela pressed on, having heard some little emphasis one key word. "Relationship, sure, but what about the other stuff?" She wasn't entirely sure what other stuff there might be, but she had an inkling, and was curious to know whether her daughter's... girlfriend... would be up front about that, too.

Surprisingly, Maura simply smiled. "Longer than that," she replied, and just as Angela took a sip from her beer glass, finished the thought. "I'm looking forward to her being cleared for activity." Then she sat back and smiled as Angela started coughing, and mouthed _You're welcome_ across the table to Jane.

The message would have been welcome had it been received. Jane's coughing joined her mother's with equal amounts of gusto. After a few moments to compose, Jane looked to her mother with humor and embarrassment clearly written across her face. "Ma, how many times do I have to tell you," she said between sputters and coughs, "not to ask Maura something unless you really want to know?" She gave one final cough, cleared her throat, and gave up trying to act as if she wasn't blushing furiously. "Oh my God, sweetheart, I'd crawl under the table and hide right now if wouldn't hurt so freaking much."


	10. Chapter 10

It was not often that Maura Isles could come up with a statement she might make, mentally predict the results of speaking it, and turn out to be correct. When she could accurately predict the results of something she said or did, the honey-blonde could rest assured she wasn't as far off center as most others, and often she herself, believed her to be. This was one of the ways that she evaluated her alignment, or lack thereof, with most of the rest of the human race, a sort of 'sanity check.'

It was also entertaining.

Maura did not try all that hard to restrain her chuckling, though she did murmur an apology for making Angela choke. Jane's embarrassment, she decided, was temporary. No one had, as far as Maura was aware, died of embarrassment. Besides, Jane was cute when she blushed, though Maura had the impression that she would not welcome that information.

Still, she ought to say something to ameliorate somewhat the effects, or at least distract both Angela and Jane from the subject matter. "Would anyone like seconds of anything, or shall I clear?"

"Let me get that," Angela offered as she stood, gave game raised eyebrow and shoulder shrug, and then started picking up plates. "Why don't you two go find some place comfortable? I'll just clean up and show myself out."

"Ma," Jane started to protest, but the warning looking in her mother's eyes stopped her. "Okay, I think I'm going to hit the little girl's room and then go lay down for a bit." She stood and shuffled off to the master bedroom leaving Angela and Maura alone at the dining table.

Maura also stood, tacitly accepting Angela's help clearing the dishes. The two worked efficiently in getting the food to the kitchen and putting it into containers in the refrigerator as they talked. "You don't have to leave right away, unless you'd prefer to be alone. As tempting as it might be to seclude ourselves and focus on one another right now, Jane and I will have all the time we need. And, and," she stumbled over a personal revelation, "and I don't want her to get tired of me yet, since she'll probably be here for a long time while she recovers."

Angela stopped washing dishes to look over, face full of disbelief. "Maura, sweetie, I think I know my daughter well enough to know she _is not_ going to get tired of you. I know I'm not one to talk given… everything," the older woman frowned deeply, "but I recognize that look in Jane's eyes. I remember when Frank looked at me like that. I think I still look at him like that," she sighed quietly, eyes gone distant. "We were so in love with each other, and, even after the kids came, we would spend our time in the same room doing different things. I'd read a book and he'd watch the game or whatever. It didn't matter as long as we were together, you know? I think… I think I should have known there were problems when he stopped wanting to be in the same room with me." She started washing dishes again as she continued her retrospective thoughts. "I took him from granted. I forgot that he didn't _have_ to put up with me, and I pushed him too hard for too long." She shook her head. "It wasn't that Frank got tired of being around me; it's that I stopped wanting to be _with_ him and more I expected him to just _be there_."

She finished rinsing the last dish before she spoke again. This time, the tears were visible though unshed. "As long as you don't do that – expect Jane to be there as opposed to just wanting to be with her, I don't think my daughter will ever get tired of you. Sweetie, she cares about you. She hasn't stopped talking about you since the moment she met you at that crime scene for the first time. Trust me on this one." She dried her hands and gave a pat to Maura's arm. "Now, go be with her, okay?"

Maura listened closely as she tucked away the food, prepared the chopped vegetables for Bass's meals the following day, wiped fingerprints off appliances and countertops. She seemed not to even notice when Angela did the dishes by hand instead of putting them into the dishwasher, so focused was she on the elder Rizzoli's words.

As she went behind Angela to dry the sink fixtures and countertops, she found herself nodding in understanding, and once she had dropped the cloth into the bucket beneath the sink, leaned against the counter's edge. The hand on her forearm came as a welcome point of contact with another person who was becoming a close friend, quite apart from Angela's parental relationship with Jane. "I will," she said with finality, "but we don't have to be _alone_ to be together. You can be with us sometimes, too. Tonight, you're right, I think she needs me. I know I need her." Her head ducked down as she said with a tiny smile, "I promise to learn from you and Frank. I hope she always knows that seeing her alters the rhythm of my breathing and causes my brain to release oxytocin and..." Pause. "She makes me feel good."

Angela smiled warmly as she let her hand fall to her side. "You're good for each other." With a sigh, she gave her hands one more drying with the kitchen towel before placing it back in its spot. "I'm going to take off, but, if you two need anything, you call me okay?" She gave the younger woman a hug. "Welcome to the family, Maura." She pulled back, keeping her hands on the other woman's upper arms. "I know we're a little broken right now, but we'll make it. I'm glad you're here."

Maura surprised herself by leaning in and holding on for a long moment. "Thank you, Angela. The same goes for you. If I'm your family now, you're mine too. I'm glad to have you, and I hope you know you can always ask me for anything."

After Angela left, Maura took a few minutes to start a laundry load washing, then headed for her bedroom.


	11. Chapter 11

"You and Ma have a nice chat?" Jane was propped on a few pillows reading book four of the Harry Potter lineup. Cleaned and smelling faintly of lavender, she looked comfortable enough in her white tank top and black boy shorts. As she closed the book to give Maura her full attention a smile broke out across her face and her eyes light up. "Hi." Her smile turned goofy, eyes sparkling.

"Yes, it was very..." Maura paused in the doorway, one shoe in hand, the other lifted up for removal, arrested by the casual scene before her. She swallowed, breath caught, and then a slow, complete smile spread across her soft features. "Hi."

Jane's smile only grew brighter. "You want me to do anything while you get ready for bed, or are you just coming in here to change before hitting the office to do stuff? I know you're still working on that article for that dead people's journal." She paused for a breath, considered something quickly, and then said with some uncertainty. "Hey, if you are going to work on that, do you think you could bring the laptop in here?"

Maura shook her head as she got out of that one-legged, bent-over position, shoes in hand, and took them into the closet. "If you want to read, I can certainly find something to occupy my mind, but I really just want to shower and get ready for bed. Did you already get clean, or do you need assistance?" A hand-held showerhead was useful for the lower body, but for the upper, Jane's doctors had ordered sponge baths only for another two weeks, so as not to get the gunshot wound wet.

"I'm good. Like the big girl that I am, I took care of myself," Jane let out a chuckle as she opened her book up again. "I can read whenever. I'll be here when you get back." She glanced back down at her book. "You know, I'm pretty sure this Hermione chick is based on you." She glanced up at the doctor. "You _sure_ you're not a witch?"

"I've thought about that," Maura replied from inside her walk-in closet, "and I've realized that I don't actually know. My birth certificate is sealed; all I have is a date and a first name. It's possible that my mother was a witch in the religious sense." She left the closet a few moments later and headed for the bathroom to shower. However, as the water was on and heating, she popped her head and one bare shoulder out from behind the door. "Since we're asking questions, I have one. Did Snake Peterson have an unusually long, slender penis?"

The pillow that came hurtling through the air missed her head by a just an inch or two.

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